Re: "Hand Picked Barrel"

Astor in NYC is selling their OWA single barrel at $40. That's almost double the regular price for OWA around here. I won't buy any at that price on principle, but it better be a darn good barrel to even think of jacking up the price like that.

Fortunately, at home in NJ I have access to reasonably priced store barrels of Blanton's, BT, ETL, KCSB, and EC 12. All very good. There's also a ton of barrel select ER10, but those are a dime a dozen, and not anywhere near my favorite bourbon.

"Hand Picked Barrel"

Regarding rejected barrels, I don't know what becomes of them, but some barrels are definitely clunkers. In our store, we selected both a BT and Eagle Rare barrel. We received three samples of each. In both cases, one barrel each received zero votes from our staff. That's 12 people that summarily rejected 1 of 3 barrel presented to us.

Re: "Hand Picked Barrel"

As a participant in a couple of store picks, I can echo what many have said, first, it's a cool experience to be able to do so, and yes, the samples sent can range from the standard profile, to something completely in left field. And there has been at least one dog that I remember.

It's not easy, you may like one, but you also have to keep in mind that you are doing it for the store, and it needs to sell, your taste may not be everyone else's.

Chuck brought up a good point too, often the store can put a good break on the price.

My current store pick of ER is going for $45 plus tax for a 1.75. Not a bad price in my book for what I'm getting.

B

"Life is life and fun is fun, but it's all so quiet when the goldfish die."

Re: "Hand Picked Barrel"

I had a chance to help a retailer pick their barrel from BT. They pick a barrel every 2 months because of their sales volume. The five bourbons were very interesting. They had all been diluted at the distillery to bottling strength (per the retailer's request) and the sample that was ultimately chosen was good but not the most interesting. They made a conscious choice to pick a bourbon with the profile that their customers liked rather than the most interesting or tastiest. Tasting blind we all ended up picking the same most interesting barrel, but what they chose was my #3 choice. Nice but not the standout. I know another retailer who does barrel picks with Jefferson (and yes I know they are a NDP) - and he's able to offer small batch for $25 a bottle which is a good price here in New England.

Re: "Hand Picked Barrel"

So generally the price doesn't really go up with a store selection. Good to know.

New concern: It seems like a store pick might be the way to go because someone there has recently tried the product. So does every single barrel bourbon that hits a bottle get tasted by someone at the distillery? For example, is someone tasting each barrel of EWSB or FRSB? If so great! If not, then a store selection might be a good way to ensure a decent pick. I guess that's logic behind the whole thing anyway, get selections and sell those selections as being something better than the "distillery-to-store" option. It places a middle-man taster between you and the distillery.

It seems strange though. I trust the guys and gals that make a single barrel product to taste it before it gets to me and I would hold their taste over my own and the store selector. Scratching my head over all this. When it comes to single barrel bourbon, you just have to roll the dice and buy the bottle to find out I guess.

Re: "Hand Picked Barrel"

About rejected samples. Let's say you're doing a single barrel of Buffalo Trace. When the distillery selects the samples, they are all from barrels that have already been selected as suitable for Buffalo Trace. The ones that aren't chosen for the personal selection are probably high in the queue for the next bottling of Buffalo Trace and go into the dump tank with a few hundred of their fellows and are bottled as standard Buffalo Trace. I strongly doubt they go back into a personal selections queue. Remember, the remaining whiskey from that barrel is still in the barrel and if they have already deemed it ready, it won't stay there for long.

Re: "Hand Picked Barrel"

Originally Posted by jeffrey r

Astor in NYC is selling their OWA single barrel at $40. That's almost double the regular price for OWA around here. I won't buy any at that price on principle, but it better be a darn good barrel to even think of jacking up the price like that.

While I agree that the extra $15 over a standard bottle is steep, I'm intrigued by this as I have not seen any other OWA store selections in this area. Has anyone given this a shot? Would like to hear some thoughts but may end up buying one anyway to satisfy my own curiosity. I'm sure I've spent $40 on dumber things!